What can be learned from this project?
• After identifying the issues facing asylum seekers in the area, Mixenden Community Link worked with asylum seekers and residents to develop solutions. By finding local solutions in partnership with local people, the initiative has been able to produce quick results.
• In the early stages of the project, the Pennine Housing 2000 team were told that they lacked the necessary skills to work with asylum seekers. However, they believed that something needed to be done and that they could make a difference. The approach they took was that ‘hard to reach’ groups aren’t ‘impossible to reach’ groups.
• The project is run on a very low budget, so it was important to make it self-sustaining. For example, rather than setting up new systems and structures, Mixenden Community Link used the well-established tenants’ associations.
The Mixenden Community Link Christmas party
• The community- led approach of the initiative makes it easy to replicate in other areas. Pennine Housing 2000 plans to extend the model to West Central Halifax which faces similar challenges, and to make links with organisations in other areas in order to develop comparison projects.
Topics associated with this project
Cohesion, Community-led, Housing, Neighbourhood, Yorkshire and Humber